Floating gear pump



Jan. 27, 1953 R. Q. ARMINGTON ET AL 7 FLOATING GEAR PUMP Filed June 13, 1947 2 SHEETSSHEET 1 INVENTORS RAYMOND Q AA'Mwa-rou WALTER f. oauaLE DY 7%; & 0W

ATTORNEYS Jan. 27, 1953 Q ARMINGTON ET L 2,626,570

FLOATING GEAR PUMP 2 SI-lEETSSl-IEET 2 Filed June 13, 1947 INVENTORJ fin YMdA/D Q. ARM/Ne rou WALTER F Dave/.5 by @4,

ATTORNEYS Patented Jan. 27, 1953 UNITED STATES "E -NT OFFICE corporati'o'n of Ohio 'Apsiiaisn'me" 13, 1947, Sefiarmj'mk 124C. mi 4126) This invention relates to improvements. in" a balanced gear 'pumpand more particularly to one inwhich one of the gears floats freely without any connection whatsoever. I v

An object of the present invention is to provide a balanced gear pump which omits all bearings except 'the'one that is necessary to support the coupling end of the drive'shaft. v M 7 Another objectof the present invention is to so equalize the pressures exerted in any and all directions on the gears so that they are substantially equallyfhalanced. I

'Still another objector thepresent invention is to provide the maximum bearing surface possible for the periphery'of the gear teeth in their surrounding housing.

Still another object of our invention is to'balancethe endzthrust on the gears in a novel manner and to reduce the sliding contact on the faces of the gears.

c Other objects andv advantages reside in the arrangement of the parts for carrying out the above mentioned purposes as will be more clearly understood from the description. and the drawingsahd the essential features will be summarized in the claims In the drawings;

Fig. 1 is a side elevational view of a pump embodying our invention;

Fig.2 is asectional View taken along the line 2- 2 of Fig. 1; n

Fig. 3 is a sectional view taken along the line 3-;3of Fig.1; r

Figs. 4, 6 and 7"arefsectionalviewstaken along similarly numbered fines of Fig. 2; While Fig. '5 is a 'fr'a'g ment'al sectional view similar to Fig.4 and showing another position of the gears.

In designing a hydraulic pump or motor, in order tojgete'fiiciency itis' necessary to maintain a very 's'mall "clearance between the outside diam'eter' of .the gearsandthe inside diameter, of the housings. This clearance must be of the orderofone thousandthpf an inch. In conventional pumps the 'gears aremounted on shafts which, "in" turn, are supported by beari It is assumed that theselbearingshold the gears in positionso thatthey do not rub in the housing. w v r h n att mpting. to bu ld :a mgm remcient" gear "pump and reducing the clearance between the 'gear and the housing to one- 2 thousandth ofan'ihch, it is found in practice that deflections in the bearings, shafts, and other parts occur together with accumulations of slight errors in manufacture, which allow the gears to rub on the housing. 7 The'pres'ent invention doesaway with all but one of the bearingsand relies upon exact balancing of the gears to hold the gears with very slight frictional resistance against the.housingsyeven though the clearances are maintained at the desirableminimum.

Our invention will be described as a 'um an though attention will be called later 'to the fact that the same structure'r'n'ay be uilized'as a hy' draulic motor. s v

The pump housingf'is 'shown'fas c'ozfn'prising a main body l0 through which extend twobores El and IZ arranged so'that the two circles intersect on the center line of the'inlet passageway l3 and the outlet 'pasageway I4, One end of the housing is closed by a'plain'cover I 5 while the other end of the housing is closed'by a bearing cover It. 'Ifhese covers'a'rebolted to the main. body-by boltsl'l in the usual" manner. In'the: bore II is a driven gear l8while in the bore I2: is a drivinggear IS. The latter is 'secured'by a key 2!) to a shaft 2| the'end of which extends outside of the housingland-is adaptedto receive a driving connection at 2 la. A sleeve {5a extends outwardly from the cover It and holds a single bearing 22 for shaft 2| and a conventional sealing means 23 to prevent leakage of fluid out of the pump'along the shaft 2!. The gears it and I9 along-the plane indicated at 24in Fig. 2 have very slight clearance with'the cover plates 15 and it, say, of the order of one-thousandth of an inch. Similarly, the peripheries of the gear teeth havea clearance with the circumferential walls of the bores H and I Zas viewed in Fig. 4 of the order of one-thousandth of an inch.

Means is provided for balancing the radial thrust on each of thegears. As clearly shown in Figs. 2, 3 and 6, a'p ass'ag'eway -25 leading from the inlet passageway ['3 is connected by passageway 26 in theco'ver [5 with 'arecess 21 which is along side the teeth of the'gear I8. Another passageway 28 inthe cover plate |5"connects passageway 25 with'a recess 29 which is along side the teeth. of gear l9. Referring to'Fig. 4 it will be seen that the'pressure'exerted radially on'the gears l8 and I9 adjacent the inlet passageway I3 is transferred to diametrically opposite ports 21 and 29 and there exerted in the opposite direction on the gears I8 and I9 so that these pressures almost exactly balance each other. In a similar manner a passageway 39 leads out of the discharge passageway I4 and is connected by a passageway 3I in the cover I5 with a port 32 which is along side the teeth of gear I8. Another passageway 33 connects passageway 30 with ports 34 which is along side the teeth of gear I9. Referring again to Fig. 4 it will be seen that the pressure exerted from the discharge passageway I4 radially inwardly against the gears I8 and I9 is almost exactly balanced by a similar pressure at ports 32 and 34 which are diametrically opposite on the respective gears.

Means is provided for balancing the end pressure against the teeth of a given gear. Referring to Figs. 2 and 7, it will be seen that in the cover I6 there are provided ports or recesses 21', 29', 32' and 34 exactly opposite and of the same dimensions as the respective ports 21, 29, 32 and 34 already described. It results from this construction that the pressure in the ports 27, 29, r

32 and 34 is transmitted through the openings between teeth to the respective ports opposed thus balancing the pressure on opposite ends of the gear teeth.

Other means is provided for balancing the end thrust on the gears I8 and i9. Referring to Figs. 2, 6 and 7, it will be noted that circular pockets 35 of equal size and concentric with gear I8 are provided in covers I5 and I6 at the opposite faces of gear I8. An opening 35 extending entirely through gear i8 connnects these two pockets so as to equalize the pressure on the opposite end faces of the gear. In a similar manner, pockets 3'! of equal diameter are formed in covers I5 and IS on opposite sides of gear I9 and concentric with the gear. A passageway 38 connects these pockets so as to equalize the pressure on opposite end faces of this gear. It should be noted that the pockets or recesses 35 and 3! reduce the area of sliding contact on the faces of the gears.

It was mentioned above that radial thrust on each of the gears is substantially balanced. However, there is a slight unbalance which is in the direction of forcing the gears outwardly or away from the passages I3 and I4. Thus the gears actually tend to bear slightly against the outer walls of the bores II and It. This is desirable because the bores of the housing naturally have to be interrupted at the center of the pump where the gears mesh, while it is continuous on the outer sides of the gears. In this way a satisfactory bearing is provided to take care of the small resultant loads on the gears. Actually this load is never more than a few hundred pounds and this is divided between a large number of teeth as will be readily seen in the drawings.

At the zones marked 39 where the bores I I and I2 intersect, it will be noted that the pump body is carried around the gears as far as possible. This is to provide the maximum bearing area for the gears. This is especially necessary for the gear that is mounted on the drive shaft, as loads may occur due to the driving coupling on this drive shaft. By providing this extra bearing area in the housing, the possibility of the gears jumping around inside the housing is eliminated.

It will be noted in Figs. 4 and 5 that there is usually only one tooth on each gear which acts as a seal at any one point in the high or low pressure zones. This gives entirely satisfactory 4 performance due to the small clearances with which the pump is designed.

It should be noted that bearings on the idler gear I8 or any shaft for supporting the same are omitted entirely. This gear floats completely within the bore I I and between the covers I5 and I6. One bearing only is required on the entire pump and that is on the coupling end of the drive shaft 2|.

While we have described our invention as a pump, it will be obvious to those skilled in this art that by reversing the arrows indicating direction of flow the device may be converted to a hydraulic motor. In other words, fluid under pressure would enter at the passageway I4 and would be discharged at the passageway I3, causing a rotation of the gears I8 and I9 in its movement through the pump housing. The power thus generated would be taken off shaft 2I by a coupling at'the end 2 la.

What we claim is:

1. Adevice for use with hydraulic fluid comprising in combination two gears coacting at an intermeshing zone between them, a housing closely surrounding said gears except at said zone, fluid inlet and outlet passageways at said zone permitting fluid flow tangentially of said gears, ports in said housing adjacent the teeth of each of said gears and diametrically opposite the teeth of said gears exposed to pressure from said inlet and outlet passageways, said ports in each instance including chambers wholly adjacent opposite end faces of the teeth and within the periphery of the gear, said chambers on opposite ends of the teeth at a given point being substantially equal in tooth area covered, said ports covering approximately the same number of teeth as the respective diametrically opposite teeth exposed to pressure from said passageways, passage means for conducting pressure from said inlet and outlet passageways respectively to said ports diametrically opposite, a shaft rigidly secured to one of said gears axially thereof and extending outside of said housing and there provided with a drive connection, and the other of said gears being free of any connection and floating in said housing, there being an opening provided extending axially through said floating gear, and recesses in said housing adjacent opposite end faces of said floating gear communicating with said opening and concentric about the axis of said floating gear and of substantially greater diameter than said opening, whereby to equalize the pressure onropposite end faces of the said floating gear and to minimize the friction between the end faces of said gear and said housing. 5

2. A device for use with hydraulic fluid comprising in combination two gears coacting at an intermeshing zone between them, a housing closely surrounding said gears except at said zone, fluid inlet and outlet passageways at said zone permitting fluid flow tangentially of said gears, means balancing fluid pressure against opposite end faces of the teeth of each of said gears, a shaft rigidly secured to oneof said gears axially thereof and extending outside of said housing and there provided with a drive connection, there being an opening provided extending axially through at least one of said gears, and recesses in said housing adjacent opposite end faces of said last named gear communicating with said opening and concentric about said axis of said last named gear, said recesses having a diameter at least twice the diameter of said opening, where- 5 by to equalize the pressure on opposite and faces of the said last named gear and to minimize the friction between the end faces of said gear and said housing.

RAYMOND Q. ARMINGTON. WALTER F. DOUBLE.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 917,466 Lees Apr. 6, 1909 984,811 Hanson et a1. Feb. 21, 1911 1,691,713 Frey Nov. 13, 1928 1,795,579 Storey Mar. 10, 1931 1,879,219 Harbison Sept. 27, 1932 1,897,560 Lawser Feb. 14, 1933 1,937,367 Vickers Nov. 28, 1933 Number Number 15 263,590 265,576

Name Date Ernst Dec. 28, 1937 Van Dartelen July 9, 1940 Vrolix Aug. 27, 1940 Mueller et a1 Nov. 18, 1941 Ungar May 18, 1943 Ungar Dec. 28, 1943 Ungar et a1 May 16, 1944 Pugh Dec. 18, 1945 Herman Mar. 5, 1946 Roth et a1 May 13, 1947 FOREIGN PATENTS Country Date Great Britain Jan. 6, 1927 Great Britain Aug. 4, 1926 OTHER REFERENCES Ser. No. 309,103, Vanni (A. P. C.), published 20 May 11, 

